Anime: Guskou Budori no Denki (2012)

I agree with metalotaku.
Miyazawa's style leave us often in the dark, but all the main themes he loved are there: the farming concerns, the dreamlike aspect...
Artistically, it's a very beautiful creation, with some steampunk influences and lot of details.
And I'm glad to see that Japanese creators still interested in their own classic literature!

Seemingly mundane and without obvious answers, let alone a conclusion, yet quite beautiful in some regards.

“not losing to the rain
not losing to the wind
not losing to the snow nor to summer's heat
with a strong body
unfettered by desire
never losing temper
always quietly smiling
every day four bowls of brown rice
miso and some vegetables to eat
in everything
count yourself last and put others before you
watching and listening, and understanding
and never forgetting
in the shade of the woods of the pines of the fields
being in a little thatched hut
called a nobody by everyone
without being praised
without being blamed
such a person
I want to become”

A wonderful movie, with an enchanting atmosphere, superb imagery and music. This is not a movie that intends to be a drama, to move the audience with dramatic events, like I'm afraid it might seem at a first glance. It's much more than that, it's a wonderful allegory with a message for the viewer, (please read the next paragraph only after you see the movie!) :)

And this message is delivered through the contrast between two villages, the one at the beginning of the movie, and the one in the end. The city where the lives of people were left to chance, and they found themselves powerless against misfortune, and the city where people were trying to understand how nature works, using that knowledge to act to make life better for themselves and for the ones dear to them.

A poetic movie witch made of visual wonders thank to Gisaburô Sugii great directing. However, no matter how interresting the movie was as an whole, it feels that too much left unaswered in the psychologi of Budori. We don't get too much explanation on how he deal with his family matter after his intial departure from his hometown. So that's kill a bit of the character drive. That said it was predictable, due to the blurryness of Kenji Miyazawa Works (even if Night On the Galactic Railroad was way more explicit in his conclusion). Still, recommended.